Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia9-The Calendrical Systems of Mainland South-East Asia

This Handbook makes a comprehensive examination of calendrical systems used in mainland Southeast Asia. It is designed (with numerous examples from the literature) to provide a grammar of the subject that will enable scholars to investigate it for themselves. This Handbook is the first to study comprehensively how the Southeast Asian calendar was constructed and how positions for the sun, moon and planets were determined. It examines the differences that distinguish Burma from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and those that distinguish Northern Thailand from the rest of that country. Explanation of such matters as ways of naming the years, differences between the types of lunar year, variations in methods used to mark times of day, constructing horoscopes, determining calendar dates, and many other technical matters are accompanied by worked examples from the literature. The intention of the study is to provide an apparatus whereby scholars will be able to analyse confidently for themselves the dates and other calendrical information to be found in abundance in their sources.